Ben Smith plays for Barracuda, takes one step forward in recovery

Ben Smith didn’t play exactly the way he wanted for the Barracuda on Saturday afternoon. But at least on a personal level, he was OK with the end result.

“I got (hit) in the first period, up here a little bit and felt fine,” said Smith, motioning toward his jaw. “So it’s good for the confidence knowing that I can take a hit like that and be OK. It’s one step forward. It’s not the game I wanted to have, but it’s one step forward and I’ll try and make a couple more steps tomorrow.”

Smith’s game for the Barracuda on Saturday at SAP Center was his first in any league since Oct. 31, when he had just 4:03 of ice time in the Sharks’ 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars. In the weeks since that day, he’s taken steps forward (and backward) from the concussion issues he’s had, but this was the biggest step yet in the right direction.

“It was fun. Just to be back in a game, it’s nice to warm up, go out and play and I played quite a bit,” Smith said after the Barracuda’s 5-0 loss to the San Diego Gulls, in which he was a minus-3. “Not the way I wanted it go for your first game, but you have to understand that it’s the first game in six or seven weeks. Definitely left a lot to build off of there.”

Smith will stay with the Barracuda for at least one more game, as San Jose plays the in Southern California against the Ontario Reign on Sunday. After that, the Barracuda do not play again until Dec. 18. The Sharks start a five-game road trip Tuesday in Montreal, but it’s anyone’s guess as to when Smith will return to the NHL.

For now, Smith said the biggest things he wants to work on are, “getting my legs back into game shape, being able to play low. Play strong on the puck. For some of the game I did that, other times, I knew that I could do a lot better.”

Curtis Pashelka

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while I agree that defense should be able to shut down opponets night in and night out you have to have a solid goaltender to back them up. Niemi and I would even say Nabakov were huge momentum breakers. So many times in past years the Sharks would get a huge goal to take a lead or start a comeback and would completely out shoot and out play the opposing team only to have them come back and shoot one shot on us and get a goal and ruin the momentum. Now this can be blamed on defensive breakdowns but a good offense is the best defense so obviously when you put so much pressure on a team you will have a couple slip ups and the Sharks have never had a goalie who can cover for those.

ppc

this is statistically untrue. shot attempts are tracked and they are never, ever blocked anywhere near 95%. maybe 50% at most.

ppc

You are correct and everyone who has followed them at all knows this.

GP_hockeyhappens

I don’t think this moron deletes his own comments. He never knows if he’s wrong either.

SharksA’sRaiders

It’s getting HARD watching the Sharks and all hockey for that matter. The sport is bordering on unwatchable. No finesse anymore. No open play. It’s all chippy scrums for the puck, battles along the boards, clutching, grabbing, interfering and half (if not most) goals are tip ins/deflections/divine intervention. There’s a reason scoring is WAY down.
The game no longer resembles the hockey we grew up watching or play(ed) as kids and into our adult lives. That 3 on 3 OT vs Edmonton was a breath of fresh air. I think I’ve finally got onto the “permanent 4 on 4” bandwagon.

spooky

95% includes shots not taken – not attempted to be taken

MLBSF

Well it took awhile but I knew it was going to happen. My friend who is a huge Minnesota fan laughed at and tortured me via text over the Sharks’embarrassing loss to the Wild. What could I do except take it? The WIld will be in the playoffs again this year and the Sharks won’t.

So the Giants pick up Cueto today. They’re looking real strong next season!! My Warriors are 24-1 and defending world champs. The 49ers are just god-awful but at least they’ve been in the Super Bowl 6 times and won it 5 times for me.

And then you have the Sharks. The ugly stepchild of the family who always lets me down. And I mean always. Get ready for the massacre tomorrow in Montreal.
Final score:
Montreal 6
Sharks 0

MLBSF

Sorry. That’s not the way blame works.
If everyone deserved the blame equally, then everyone would be payed the same salary.

The coach is always blamed the most, because it’s easier to replace him than the entire roster or multiple players.

Next you blame the highest paid players who have been there the longest (Marleau and Thornton in that order)

And then on down the line by talent expectations/salary expenditure.

Players will tell you the blame goes all the way around because that is a talking point. But the truth is certain players are blamed more than others. And rightfully so

renoshark

Doug Wilson’s inability to acquire an organ is also a huge factor here. That’s the real elephant in the room.

renoshark

Hopefully Doug Wilson will acquire an organ that we can take on this roadtrip.

ppc

yup, the league has a major problem with the focus on defense and lack of scoring.

MLBSF

Well laugh all you want. But even someone else said it would be good to have an organ at the Tank. If anything, it can be used to help drown out all the Sharks fans booing.

Also Reno all you do is criticize my comments but the only solutions you offer bout making the Sharks better are keeping Marleau and Thornton. Good lord. smh

SharksA’sRaiders

I’d really like to see the NHL make an effort to address this issue. It’s pretty serious. Obviously they can’t increase the size of the rink to international dimensions, but something needs to be done. I am vehemently against ‘making the nets bigger.’ I’d like to see a more creative solution. Maybe it’s officiating? Referees are not calling penalties at the frequency they were post 2004-05 lockout and it shows. I fear the best long term answer though is 4 on 4, which is a much more true brand of hockey than what we’re getting now.

Wilma Mermelstein

What really worries me is the fact that our draft picks, the ones Wilson hasn’t traded away have not panned out. We have a terrible farm system which means many years of losing. Does anyone know if we still have our No. 1 draft pick for 2016. I hope so because we are in the Auston Matthews sweepstakes if we still have the pick.

J B

“…the only solutions you offer bout making the Sharks better are keeping Marleau and Thornton”

And when did this happen, exactly?

J B

Their first pick and Sean Kuraly went to Boston for Jones.

renoshark

The “farm system” isn’t terrible. The better prospects just aren’t NHL ready yet and most of them aren’t even in the AHL to this point. Most are scattered throughout the QMJHL, WHL or OHL. There are a few with the Barracuda but they could use a few seasons there before moving up.

J B

Besides, it doesn’t matter, Edmonton gets the first overall pick in the draft. It’s happened so regularly, it’s become a tradition like the Detroit Lions playing on Thanksgiving.

spooky

true with the direction of hockey
i think larger iihf rink should be the solution.i understand the prospective of loosing seats but bigger picture is better hockey.

SharksA’sRaiders

Agreed, but making the rinks bigger would be a logistic nightmare. All it takes is for one arena to not be able to accommodate the IIHF rink size to make it impossible. The Isles arena in Brooklyn is already one such rink.

spooky

standing are interesting. EDM won 6, 1 point ahead of sharks.
those games in hand only count if we produce points 🙂
we’re 2 points ahead of being last in the whole conference.
i know you can twist standing many ways, when its tight, but i hope this is how the team looks at it. we loose next 2 games and we can easily be dead last in the league,

MLBSF

I couldn’t agree more. The our farm system is unquestionably terrible. It’s funny how the Sharks’ picks are never NHL ready but everyone else’s (like Edmonton) always seem good to go. Interesting isn’t it? smh

MLBSF

Yes. Edmonton now with more points than the Sharks despite playing without their #1 pick superstar. Unbelievable.
Well, I know someone who is happy to not have to worry bout Doug Wilson’s mess anymore:

TheMask

I hate to say it as a goalie, but reduce the size of the goalie’s pads, for one thing. Goalies need to be required to use their skill, not their bulk, to make saves (pretty soon we’re going to have a sumo wrestler as goalie covering most of the net with his body).
Next is put some kind of version of the basketball 3 second rule in front of the net, so you don’t have six goalies standing there. You might require that at least one defensive player be above the circles at all times, something like that. I think there are lots of ways to do it, but changing net size isn’t one of them

SharksA’sRaiders

Goalies definitely need to have their gear brought under control. Feels like every few years there’s a new mandate to shrink the pads (Garth Snow in his Philly days were the most egregious) then they creep back up in size.

Instead of getting scoring up, I’d love for the NHL to brainstorm ways to open up play in the middle parts of the ice and get the puck away from the boards. The rest will take care of itself. You might be on the right track with your thinking. The sport when played well resembles basketball in the offensive zones and speed skating in the neutral zone. Now? It’s like a permanent Rugby scrum and when the players do get free, they’re skating in a phone booth. League should put Lemieux and Gretzky in charge of fixing this problem.

NB Finfan

Scoring is down because teams do such a good job of collapsing in front of the net and the goalies pads are ridiculously too large. Wider rink equals more space to play outside the dots. Go first with what Mask says and make the goal pads smaller.

SharksA’sRaiders

By ignoring the quality of play and scoring issues the NHL is destroying its product by preventing its best players from being able to be at their best, thus killing their marketability. I was eager to see Crosby and Malkin a couple weeks ago in person in San Jose but the game was a bust. Two of the Penguin goals were lucky bounces off Shark skates and Crosby was a non-factor. In the good ol’ days when play was more wide open, there wasn’t the parity we have now, and there wasn’t such an emphasis on defense, you knew you were in for a treat when Mario, Brett Hull, Jagr etc. came to town. Now you’re just as likely to see a 3rd liner score off a shot off Vlasic’s rear than you are to see Oveckin do a slick move and roof one.

dman

So burns is now second to last in plus minus in the league. its crazy that DW has yet to admit that Burn is a much better forward than he is a defenseman. Its true that now it might be hard to put him in forward because our defensive depth is crap and no one can replace his minutes but it could have been addressed in the off season. Tmac’s smirk last week as to what he preferred Burns to play told it all. This guy was a beast at forward. This team has no chance of winning a cup.

renoshark

You mean the same elite prospects that haven’t made the playoffs in a decade? Yeah, if only we could be like Edmonton.